A 28-year-old man has been charged with attempted robbery and associated offences.
He is expected to appear at Limavady Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, August 7, for a first remand hearing.
As is normal procedure, all charges will be reviewed by the Public Prosecution Service.
The charges follow an incident in the Green Street area of Limavady yesterday evening, Monday, August 5.
Man to be sentenced at Derry court next month charged over theft of charity box and £1,000 worth of cigarettes from shop in 2018
Cops who investigated the incident are jubilant after the man was convicted of 2018 burglary from Galliagh Spar when he stole a CANCER FUND FOR CHILDREN charity box and over £1,000 of cigarettes.
During the incident in January 2018, a car was rammed into the shutter of the shop before thieves made their way inside to steal cigarettes and the charity box.
An officer writing on PSNI Foyle’s Facebook page said: “In our hyper connected culture we often see a news story, feel appalled and angry and then the news cycle swiftly moves on.
“We often don’t ever find out what happens with an investigation.
“Well I can tell you; Police held a scene, CSI got DNA and footwear impressions, our Cyber Support Unit got CCTV, Ballyarnett NPT actioned intelligence, made arrests, conducted house searches, seized evidence, conducted interviews and followed all lines of enquiry.
“The PPS then took over in bringing the case to Court.
“As a result a male, who was a juvenile at the time, has been convicted and will be sentenced next month.
“This feels extra satisfying because this was money was for the most vulnerable people in our society – children with Cancer.
“Our communities couldn’t function without our many Charities and the generosity of everyone who supports them.”
THREE men, two aged 24 and one aged 25 years old, are expected to appear at Derry Magistrates’ Court this morning on drug supply offences.
It follows house searches in the city yesterday.
A woman in her 30s was also arrested as part of the operation.
She has been released on bail pending further enquiries.
High Court hears claims Derry man under threat from dissident republicans over flat break in
The 25-year-old, who is not being named for legal reasons, was allegedly involved in smashing the front door and window of the property at Glendale Park in the city.
Prosecutors also claimed a woman living there was dragged outside and cut on the leg by a co-accused.
The man faces charges of aggravated burglary, possessing an offensive weapon in public, aggravated vehicle taking, common assault and disorderly behaviour.
He allegedly arrived at the flat in the Galliagh area on June 5 with an associate who was carrying a wooden plank.
Police were told the resident was trailed outside when she tried to get them to leave.
According to her account the co-accused then produced a sharp object from his jacket which he used to inflict a cut above her ankle.
The alleged intruders sped off in a car with his tyres spinning, the court heard.
Later the same day that vehicle was said to have been involved in a road traffic collision at an another location in the city.
Following his arrest the 25-year-old defendant denied the offences, claiming he acted in self-defence.
He stated that while he was at the flat with his co-accused he was attacked by individuals brandishing a suspected machete and fence post.
Opposing bail, a Crown lawyer contended that he poses a risk to the public based on alleged actions in a housing estate in mid-afternoon.
“Police have information the community are aware of the incident and who was involved,” she said.
“The applicant is under threat management for action to be taken against him by violent dissident republicans.”
Bail was granted, however, based on the length of time the case is expected to take.
Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan imposed conditions including a ban on entering the Cityside of Derry.
And the defendant was warned by Sir Declan: “Essentially he’s not to cross the River Foyle.”
Seamus Bradley who was shot dead by British soldiers during Operation Motorman in Derry 47 years ago
The shooting of Seamus Bradley, 19, has long been a matter of dispute.
He was killed by soldiers from the Royal Scots Regiment during Operation Motorman – an Army attempt to gain control of republican areas in Belfast and Derry that had previously been considered no-go zones for the security forces.
The Army claimed the teenager was shot while he was in a tree and suffered additional injuries as he fell.
His family alleged he was killed later, claiming he was taken away in an Army Saracen vehicle and alleging he sustained fatal injuries while being subjected to interrogation.
Coroner Judge Patrick Kinney rejected both those versions of events as he ruled at Belfast Coroner’s Court.
He said he was satisfied Mr Bradley was killed by a solider who got out of a Saracen vehicle, dropped to one knee and opened fire.
He said Mr Bradley was not posing a threat at the time.
“He was running across an open area of ground, he had no weapon and he was clearly visible,” he said.
“The use of force by the solder was entirely disproportionate to any threat that might have been perceived.”
Outside court Mr Bradley’s family welcomed the verdict.
His brother Danny, who has long campaigned for a fresh inquest, said he had faced down a threat from the IRA in Derry to pursue the inquest.
“I am happy with the verdict, very happy with the verdict,” he said.
“As the judge said, it’s 47 years (later) but it’s a lot better than the last (inquest) verdict.
“I am happy that I went forward, even with threats from the IRA, and got this situation heard today.”
Kate Nash, whose brother William was killed by paratroopers on Bloody Sunday, was among those who attended the hearing.
A WS-928 Heavy Duty Stun Gun similar to one seized by PSNI as part of probe into INLA in Derry
Detective Inspector Tom McClure said: “On 7 August 2018, a package was intercepted at a UK airport containing a WS-928 Heavy Duty Stun Gun intended for an address in Derry.
“Following a detailed police investigation, evidence was obtained which proved that Barr was the person who attempted to obtain this prohibited weapon, capable of causing serious harm.
“There is no good reason why anyone should wish to possess such an item unless they were intent on seriously injuring others.
“Through this investigation, we disrupted Barr’s attempt to obtain the weapon and bring it onto the streets of our city.
“This detection was part of a wider investigation into the criminal activities of the INLA in Derry, a group who claim to be the protectors of their community but in reality, use violence and intimidation to control and exploit those communities.
“Weapons like this pose a threat to everyone and anyone who brings such a weapon onto our streets does not care about their community.
“This seizure is further evidence of the PSNI’s determination to prevent serious harm and bring offenders before the courts,” added DI McClure.
A FORMER IRA man has told the BBC Radio Ulster’s Nolan Show that he wished he had killed more British soldiers.
A man calling himself ‘Eamonn’ contacted the show from Derry to explain why he joined the IRA in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday.
It comes after veteran journalist Peter Taylor said in a BBC documentary he would probably have joined the IRA if he’d been a teenager in Derry on Bloody Sunday.
DUP MP Sir Jeffrey Donald condemned the comments and TUV leader Jim Allister said that police must “bring him to justice”.
Police said that they were “aware of comments made on a radio programme this morning and will review the contents to establish if any offences have been disclosed or committed”.
“I was 14 on Bloody Sunday when I watched my fellow Derry people getting murdered and on May 1 1974 when I was 16 I joined the Provisional IRA,” Eamonn told host Stephen Nolan.
“Everything Peter Taylor said happened to me. I was at the march (Bloody Sunday), I saw the baton charge coming at us and I ran, I ran into the back of the Rossville flats and one person on my right hand side was shot and one person on my left hand side was shot. I don’t know if he died or what happened but both were shot.
“That made a big, big impression on me and I know exactly where Peter Taylor was coming from.”
Eamonn said that he started carrying out acts on behalf of the IRA immediately after joining.
“My birthday was April 30 and on May 1 1974 I did my first operation at 16 years of age, I went out there with a gun and I hijacked a car,” the now 61-year-old said.
Eamonn said it was “ok” to hijack the car as the IRA needed to “get revenge”.
He said that he had grown up in a large family that had suffered as a direct result of the inequality in Northern Ireland.
“In my mind I was traumatised by what was seen and done to me, I went out do it and I didn’t do enough as far as I was concerned,” Eamonn said.
“I couldn’t do enough, you have no idea what people like me went through.”
Mr Nolan said that Eamonn had gone out to “maim and destroy”.
“Correct and we couldn’t do enough. Killing and getting rid of the British establishment out of my country,” he said.
Asked if he wished he’d killed more people Eamonn answered “correct” but declined to say if he’d killed anybody himself.
He said that he had never been convicted of IRA membership, when it was put to him that he might be after the broadcast he said “that’s ok, whatever happens, happens”.
“What’s the sense of coming on to your show to give my opinion for you to hand the information over to the police,” Eamonn said.
“The only thing you have belonging to me is a phone number and whatever happens, happens.
“We were raided, battered out of our beds at all hours of the morning, even before I joined the IRA.
“We were raided twice a day at times and this went on for years.
“I saw my mother getting hit with batons, saw my father getting hit with batons and you’re asking me why I’m bitter.
Mr Nolan said that wishing you’d killed more people was “disgusting”.
“What’s disgusting is what I’ve seen on Bloody Sunday, what was imprinted on a 14-year-old child is disgusting.”
He said that the “circumstances I was put through are the reason why I’m bitter”.
Eamonn also said that he was planning a campaign to stop the Clyde Valley Flute Band from marching into the cityside of Derry after they wore Parachute Regiment emblems during the annual Apprentice Boys march last weekend.
After the broadcast TUV leader Mr Allister said that Eamonn had attempted to “rewrite history”.
“The narrative that the British Army’s actions spawned and justified the Provisional IRA is straight out of the Provo manual. No one was forced to be a terrorist,” the North Antrim MLA said.
“Eamonn, if that is his real name, choose to be a terrorist. If he murdered, he choose to murder – consciously and deliberately. His affirmation that the unionist population should be driven out fits with that warped terrorist mindset.
“Having boasted on air of his terrorist exploits (though the full extent of same was not explored), it now behoves the PSNI to bring him to justice and, equally, it behoves the BBC’s Nolan Show to not withhold the information it clearly holds as to the identity of this terrorist.
“I trust there will be no equivocation from either quarter.”
High Court hears claims Derry man raped, put a rope around a woman’s neck and injected her with substance
Prosecutors claimed she also sustained facial fractures and a suspected bleed to the brain from being beaten at a flat in Derry.
Shaun Hegarty, 27, is charged with attempted murder, rape, inflicting grievous bodily harm and attempted choking in connection with the alleged attack at his home on April 6.
Hegarty, of Balliniska Heights in the city, also faces counts of breaching a Sexual Offences Prevention Order, administering a substance with intent to stupefy the woman for sexual activity, and perverting the course of justice by trying to dispose of evidence.
He denies the charges, insisting any sex was fully consensual.
During his bail application, a Crown lawyer said the woman was found in a distressed state on Derry’s Northland Road in the early hours of April 7.
Her tongue was swollen and ligatures marks were discovered around her neck, according to the prosecution.
She claimed Hegarty had injected her with something at his flat, tied her with a rope and committed rape.
The woman was treated in hospital for injuries including a fractured cheekbone and eye socket.
When police entered the accused’s home he appeared to be just out of the shower, the court was told.
It was alleged that blood stains were located in the property, along with a towel, latex gloves and evidence of an attempted clean-up.
In police interviews Hegarty gave an account that the pair had engaged in consensual intercourse.
But opposing bail, the prosecution contended that he posed a high risk of re-offending.
Counsel also disclosed that toxicology reports are still outstanding amid claims that the alleged victim had a drug injected into either her tongue or finger.
Defence barrister Sean Doherty argued that some of the woman’s assertions have been shown to be false, describing her version of events as “fanciful”.
He said: “One of which was that the applicant prostituted her from his flat over the course of the evening.”
Hegarty based his renewed bid to be released from custody on delays in the case.
But Lord Justice Treacy rejected any suggestion of a lack of progress.
Refusing bail, Lord Justice Treacy said: “The investigation is proceeding with relevant expedition.
“I fail to see there’s any substance whatsoever in the point about delay.”
High Court hears man was armed with knuckle duster before his brother over victim’s leg outside house in Derry
The prosecution claim Simon Coyle, 26, launched the initial assault on a man at a house in Derry’s Drumleck Gardens.
His 32-year-old brother, James Coyle, is then accused of getting into a van and knocking the injured party down as part of suspected retaliation for an earlier encounter.
Further details emerged as Simon Coyle, of De Glin Park in Claudy, was granted bail.
He faces a charge of aggravated burglary and inflicting grievous bodily harm over the family-related incident in the early hours of May 26.
The two brothers arrived at the house where relatives live following a previous altercation, the court was told.
Simon Coyle was allegedly carrying a silver object, described as either a knuckle duster or a spanner.
It was claimed that he grabbed and punched a man at the property before they ended up outside.
A prosecution barrister said the defendant had been under the impression his brother was threatened with weapons during the earlier altercation.
Mr Justice Horner was told that when the initial assault stopped James Coyle, of Irwin Crescent in Claudy, allegedly drove over the man, spinning the vehicle’s tyres while it was on his leg.
“That man remains in hospital, and the prognosis for his leg remains unclear,” the barrister said.
He added that police believe the brothers went to the house in an act of retaliation.
With James Coyle already on bail, defence counsel Sean Doherty argued that Simon Coyle should also be released to ensure consistency.
The application was opposed amid concerns the pair could attempt to flee across the border.
But granting bail to Simon Coyle, Mr Justice Horner ordered him to surrender his passport and remain in the jurisdiction.
He also barred the defendant from entering areas of Claudy as part of a prohibition on contacting his co-accused brother.
Riot accused Paul McIntyre refused bail
Paul McIntyre, 51, was refused bail over prosecution claims that people are too scared to provide information to police investigating events surrounding the brutal murder.
A judge was told graffiti in the Creggan area where Ms McKee was killed warns “any RUC touts will be shot”.
McIntyre, of Ballymagowan Park, is one of two men charged with rioting, petrol bomb offences, and the arson of a tipper truck on Thursday, April 18.
The allegations against him relate to disorder in the area when police came under attack by stones, petrol bombs and other missiles.
Four vehicles were hijacked during unrest said to have been orchestrated and led by members of the New IRA.
A number of shots were also fired by an unidentified gunman, one of which fatally wounded Ms McKee.
McIntyre is not charged with any offences directly connected to her killing.
But a Crown lawyer claimed he can be linked to the general disturbances through clothing and jewellery worn by one of the rioters.
Footage obtained from an MTV documentary crew shows McIntyre wearing a silver bracelet while in the offices of dissident republican-linked group Saoradh earlier that day, the court heard.
One of the masked men later seen carrying and throwing petrol bombs at police lines is wearing the same type of clothes and bracelet, it was alleged.
Opposing bail, counsel cited the potential for interference with the ongoing investigation.
Although more than 140 video clips have been received through a major incident public portal, no witnesses have emerged.
“Police say they believe people are frightened and won’t come forward,” the prosecutor said.
The old sign: New IRA threat to shoot informants who pass information to police over Lyra McKee’s murder.
McIntyre’s lawyer stressed there was no allegation that he is linked to any threatening slogans or attempts to interfere with witnesses.
He also described the case against his client for the rioting charges as “weak”.
The barrister argued: “It relates to features seen on video footage that could be shared by hundreds, if not thousands, of people in the Derry area in respect of clothing and something sparkling on a wrist.”
Refusing bail for McIntyre to return to live in the same area where the rioting erupted four months ago, Mr Justice Horner highlighted the threats to prospective witnesses.
He said: “At the minute I consider the proper decision is to continue to hold the applicant in custody.”
Rioter set a car alight in Fahan Street in July 2018 during six nights of rioting in Derry
Welcoming the sentencing of John Paul Moore at Derry Crown Court yesterday, Wednesday, August 21, Detective Inspector Jack said: “John Paul Moore (23) was sentenced to five and a half years – two years and nine months in custody and the remainder on licence – for a number of offences committed during disorder in the city on 13th July, 2018.
“Moore pleaded guilty to a number of offences, including five counts of possessing petrol bombs in suspicious circumstances and four counts of throwing petrol bombs at police.
“These offences were committed by Moore during six consecutive nights of reckless violence in the city when police officers, ordinary men and women, were simply doing their jobs, trying to protect the community and keep people safe.
“I hope the sentence handed down to Moore will act as a deterrent to others who consider getting involved in this type of behaviour and that it shows this type of activity will not be tolerated.
“There is no place in the community for this type of violence, and anyone who thinks engaging in this type of criminal behaviour is warned it will not be tolerated.”
Man jailed at Derry Crown Court over historical child sex abuse offences
The jailed man, aged 57, cannot be named to protect the identity of his victim who was his step daughter.
Detective Constable Rankin said: “This man was sentenced to 9 years, 6 of which will be spent in custody and 3 on probation.
“He will also be subject to a Sexual Offences Prevention Order.
“He was convicted of 14 counts of historical child sexual abuse against a female child (6 x indecent assaults and 8 x gross indecency).
“The sentencing relates to offences between approximately 1986 – 1991.
“This woman displayed immense courage in coming forward to police and seeing this trial through to a successful conclusion.
“I hope that her tenacity and resolution to bring this man to justice will encourage anyone else who has experienced any form of sexual abuse to come forward to police.
“Our officers in PSNI Public Protection Branch are committed to investigating all reports of sexual offences against children and young people.
“Regardless of when an offence took place, we will seek to place offenders before the courts so they can be made amenable for their crimes.
“We have specially trained officers who will treat you with sensitivity and respect.
“I would continue to encourage anyone who has experienced any form of sexual abuse to contact police on 101.”
Liam Whoriskey to stand trial next month for the murder of Kayden McLaughlin-McGuinness who was found dead at his home in the Bogside in September 2017
Liam Whoriskey, of Glenabbey Gardens in Derry, denies murdering Kayden McLaughlin-McGuinness nearly two years ago.
Kayden was found dead in the child’s family home at Colmcille Court on September 17, 2017.
On Friday, a judge at Belfast Crown Court listed the trial of 25-year-old Mr Whoriskey to begin on 3 September at Derry Crown Court.
A jury is to be sworn in that day, with the case to be opened by the prosecution the following day.
No details surrounding the case were given during the short hearing, however, a previous Crown Court hearing heard that the case could involve complicated medical issues in relation to pathology, and in particular neuropathology.
A hearing in June last year heard a detective tell a judge that Kayden had sustained 13 blows to the head.
The officer described it as a “blunt force attack”.
The court heard Kayden would have survived for only 30 minutes after suffering the fatal blow.
A post mortem examination also revealed the toddler had sustained a rib fracture, between six and 10 days before his death.
Man to face Derry court over bar incident and possession of a firearm
He has been charged with possession of a firearm in suspicious circumstances and criminal damage following the incident at licensed premises in the Church Street area of Claudy on Saturday night.
He is due to appear at Derry Magistrates Court on Monday morning.
As is normal procedure, the charges will be reviewed by Public Prosecution Service.
Derry man appears in court charged with raping woman after wedding
Jason McCaferty appeared at a special sitting of Omagh Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
The Belfast Telegraph reports that the 42-year-old, of Winchester Park in Kilfennan, is accused of raping a woman on Friday.
The incident is alleged to have occurred in the early hours after a wedding on Lusty Beg Island, Kesh in Co Fermanagh.
A detective constable said she could connect the accused to the charge.
She told the court police spoke with the complainant and three witnesses and all are willing to give evidence.
It was conceded no statements have been taken, as guests were trying to keep the incident from the bride and groom, to allow them to get off on honeymoon and not have their event affected.
However, a defence solicitor took issue with the absence of statements or evidence.
He argued that, with only verbal accounts, there was “no evidence before the court”.
It was contended that McCaferty was arrested at 6 am on Friday and found himself charged with rape 12 hours later, without any evidence put to him during interview.
The defence solicitor said: “The evidential test for connection to this very serious charge is not met and is massively prejudicial.
“I believe my client should be released at once without charge.”
District Judge Barney McElholm acknowledged the situation was “certainly very unusual” and enquired if police had obtained bodyworn footage of witness accounts at the scene.
The detective confirmed that an officer did activate a bodyworn camera but the angle was wrong and the sound was very poor, rendering the footage unusable.
The judge held not all evidence would be given in writing and the test for connection to the charge was “the lowest possible hurdle.”
But while understanding the sensitivities of the occasion in question, Judge McElholm pointed out police have a duty to gather evidence.
The detective said bail was opposed on the grounds of potential witness interference.
But the defence solicitor said bail should be granted and his client would abide by all conditions imposed.
Judge McElholm agreed to bail of £750.
He banned the defendant from entering specified areas of Derry.
The case was adjourned with the accused ordered to appear at Enniskillen Magistrates’ Court next month.
Hugh Gerard Bradley jailed for five years at Derry Crown Court
The BBC has reported that Hugh Gerard Bradley, who is originally from Derry but now with an address at Willow Crescent in Ballykelly, admitted a total of 11 offences over a five year period, starting in 1983.
Judge Elizabeth McCaffrey described the abuse as “calculated, opportunistic, grave and prolonged”.
Bradley admitted a total of eleven offences which included indecent touching, masturbation and oral sex.
Judge McCaffrey said one of Bradley’s victims was, at the time of the abuse, a promising young footballer who had ambitions to become a professional player. On one occasion after Bradley had abused him, Bradley threatened to break his legs if he ever reported the abuse to the authorities. He then gave his young victim fifty pence.
the judge said when Bradley was arrested and questioned about the allegations in 2016 he described them as rubbish and pay back.
On the morning of his trial last June he was re-arraigned and admitted the allegations.
Judge McCaffrey said she took into consideration for sentencing his guilty pleas meant his two victims did not have to undergo the ordeal of giving evidence in open court.
She said one of Bradley’s victims was abused sometimes up to three time a week.
The victim started to wear football shorts which he tied tightly around his waist in an effort to prevent Bradley from sexually assaulting him.
Judge McCaffrey said it was clear that Bradley’s offending had impacted detrimentally on his two victims, one of whom questioned his own sexuality as a result of the abuse he’d suffered.
She said she was aware that Bradley’s mental health had suffered “due to community intimidation due to people becoming aware of his previous convictions” and that Bradley now lived an isolated life.
Judge McCaffrey told Bradley that his offending had caused psychological damage to his two victims and had clearly passed the custody threshold.
Bradley was placed on the sex offenders register for an indefinite period
He has also been banned for an indefinite period from working with children and vulnerable adults.
Emma De Souza with her American born husband Jake in citizenship row with British Home Office
Co Derry woman Emma De Souza won a case against the Home Office after it deemed she was British when her US-born husband applied for a residence card.
The Home Office has appealed the decision.
The Good Friday Agreement allows people to be British, Irish or both.
On Tuesday, lawyers representing the British Home Office and Ms De Souza in Belfast put forward opposing arguments by video link to two judges sitting in London.
Anyone born in the North of Ireland has the right to identify as Irish or British or both, thanks to the Good Friday Agreement, signed in April 1998 by the British and Irish governments and the North of Ireland’s political parties.
Ms De Souza applied for a residence card for her US-born husband in December 2015, making the application under her Irish passport.
However, the Home Office rejected the application as it deemed Ms De Souza was British, even though she says that she never held a British passport.
They requested that Ms De Souza either reapply as a British citizen or renounce her British citizenship to apply as an Irish citizen.
But she challenged the decision, citing the Good Friday Agreement’s terms that assert her ability to identify as Irish, British or both.
In 2017, a judge at a First Tier Immigration Tribunal ruled that Ms DeSouza was an “Irish national only who has only ever been such”.
Emma DeSouza raised her case in Europe n May this year
He put to the court that the Good Friday Agreement is two documents – a multi-party agreement and an international treaty between the British and Irish governments.
He said the 1998 Northern Ireland Act includes sections from both documents, but does not include the provisions around identifying as British, Irish or both, and therefore the 1981 Act stood.
“She (Ms De Souza) identifies herself as Irish.
“The operation of the British Nationality Act 1981 means that she has held British citizenship since her birth,” he said, adding that her British citizenship was never renounced.
A lawyer acting for Ms De Souza, said it is up to the courts to interpret documents such as the 1998 Northern Ireland Act along with the Belfast Agreement.
“Lord Bingham said (in a speech) the 1998 Act was passed to enact the Belfast Agreement, which was itself reached after much travail in an attempt to end decades of bloodshed and centuries of antagonism,” he said.
“And that is what we are dealing with here.”
He said the UK does not have a written constitution and that commentators have reflected that its “beauty” is its “flexibility” and that “when we are looking at the UK constitution it draws upon not just one document”.
“In the context of Northern Ireland, when one is interpreting any piece of legislation one must look at the Belfast Agreement and the provisions of it, and interpret the legislation in a way which is consistent with it,” he added.
The judges have retired to consider the arguments.
A written ruling will be made on a future date.
The heartbroken girlfriend of a man who was shot dead at their Co Donegal home has told how she tried desperately to save his life.
Andrew Allen died within seconds after a gunman shot three times into the bedroom of the couple’s home at Buncrana in February 2012.
Mr Allen, aged 24, had been in bed around 9.30pm with partner Arelene Farrelly when the lone gunman called to the house at 26 Links View Park.
Ms Farrelly told how herself and Mr Allen were tucked up in bed on the evening of February 9th, he was on his Playstation and she was on her phone while also watching television.
In a statement to Donegal Coroner’s Court held at Buncrana Courthouse, Ms Farrelly, who was not present in court, told how she initially heard loud bangs at the front door of the house.
She peeked out the curtains and saw a man dressed in a black baseball cap and dark clothing kicking at the door and holding what looked like a sawn-off shotgun in his hand.
The scene of the murder of Andrew Allen in Buncrana in 2012.
She told Mr Allen and he told her to call the Gardai as he struggled to get some clothing on.
Seconds later three shots were fired through the bedroom window and Mr Allen slumped to the bedroom floor.
Ms Farrelly’s statement read “He said “Arlene, I can’t feel my legs”. The blood was pumping out of him. It was coming out of his nose and his mouth. I tried to turn him in the bed but he was too heavy. He slid down, …I rang an ambulance.”
Ms Farrelly ran to a neighbour’s home to get help and Mr Daniel McGonagle rushed to the scene.
He said he could not do CPR but Ms Farrelly tried a number of times but Mr Allen did not respond.
She eventually stopped and realised that her partner was dead.
Mr McGonagle added that Mr Allen, whom he did not know personally, was turning blue and that his mouth was full of blood. He remarked to another neighbour who arrived in the house – “I think he’s as dead as a Dodo.”
He revealed earlier how he had heard gunshots and came out of his house to see a grey or silver-coloured car leaving the scene.
He recalled thinking he had seen the same car on the state a few days earlier and remarking that he was parked in a strange manner.
In her statement, Ms Farrelly revealed how her partner’s name had been on a list of six people sent in an envelope accompanied by a bullet to the Family Centre in Gobnascale in Derry a few weeks earlier.
He stayed most of the time in Buncrana after that.
However, she added that his family had been telephoned later to say the threat had been lifted and he was no longer on the list.
She added: “I know he (Andrew) was involved in drugs years ago but he had no involvement while he was with me.”
Dr Stephen McNally, who was based at the Nowdoc Service in Carndonagh on the night of the killing, arrived at the scene and officially pronounced Mr Allen dead.
The following day, former State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy carried out a post mortem on Mr Allen’s remains.
Her report was read into the court by coroner Dr Denis McCauley.
He said Mr Allen had been shot three times – in the right shoulder, the right hip and in the abdomen.
The bullet which struck his right shoulder travelled down through his right lung and into his heart and this was the bullet which killed Mr Allen, Dr Cassidy’s report said.
She found that Mr Allen died from a gunshot wound to the heart.
Garda Detective Inspector Pat O’Donnell said he was assigned as the chief investigating officer in the case.
He said that hundreds of lines of enquiry have been followed and hundreds of people interviewed.
He added: “It is my professional opinion that Andrew Allen died as a result of an unlawful killing.”
He later appealed to anybody with any information on the murder to come forward and to speak to the Gardai in confidence.
The jury of five men and two men only took a short time to agree unanimously that Mr Allen died as a result fo a gunshot wound to the heart and that his death was as a result of an unlawful killing.
Coroner Dr McCauley expressed his sympathy to the members of the Allen family present in court as did Garda Inspector David Durkin and members of the jury.
The Allen family declined to make a comment after the inquest.
James Wray (left) and William McKinney murdered by British soldier on Bloody Sunday in Derry
The ex-Paratrooper, known as Soldier F, is accused of murdering James Wray and William McKinney in 1972, as well as four counts of attempted murder.
The case is due in court for the first time on Wednesday, September 18, following a decision made in March to bring charges.
It is understood the former paratrooper will be represented by his legal team.
The relatives of the Bloody Sunday families have been informed.
Soldier F, now in his sixties, is not compelled to attend a first committal hearing if his lawyers are to mount a challenge to proceedings.
A CO DERRY meat company has been fined £3,000 after pleading guilty to breaching labelling regulations.
Meatlocker Ltd, based in Loughermore Road in Ballykelly, supplies meat products to various supermarkets.
A 10-year-old boy suffered an anaphylactic reaction after the burger, which contained cheese, cross contaminated other food on a barbecue.
He needed allergy, asthma and stomach medication and was ill for days, the court was told.
The district judge at Lisburn Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday said it was a serious matter>
The judge said that those who provide food have serious burdens placed on them for good reason.
A barrister said the company apologised to all concerned.
He added that steps had been taken to ensure the situation would never happen again.
